Quick, How Big a Deal Is $200 Billion Over the Next Quarter Century?

That's what NYT readers are asking themselves after the NYT told them that the oil and gas industry may spend up to $200 billion (in 2010 dollars) by 2035 on pipeline construction. While NYT readers are quite educated as a group, most probably do not have a clear idea of how much this spending would mean to the economy. It's a bit less than 0.05 percent of projected GDP over this period. That is not trivial, but it's not going to replace the auto industry (@ 4.0 percent of GDP).